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Case Study on ‘Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention’
Introduction
HIV/AIDS is spreading quickly in Toronto’s Black communities, which sounds crucial than ever.
Black, African and Caribbean people stand for almost one-fifth of all the new infections of HIV in
Toronto, compared with only one-tenth in the early nineties. And almost half of them who carry
the virus that causes AIDS don’t know it. It comes to the point that preventing the spread of AIDS
is gradually becoming harder and harder. There are many issues exist, such as the anti-Black
racism and poverty, in the Black community in Toronto.
The Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention ( Black CAP ) is Canada’s largest Black AIDS service
organization, which was founded in 1987 and aimed to reduce the spread of HIV infection within
Toronto’s Black communities and enhance the quality of people living with or affected by
HIV/AIDS. The motto that volunteers work under is “Because All Black People’s Lives Are
Important”, which stands as their reminder of Mission.
As a volunteer-driven, non-profits, community-based organization, Black CAP relies on the
dedication of the volunteers to support the services and programs. Volunteers, who get involved,
work for, contribute to and give back to the communities, play an important role in the operation
of Black CAP and impact on Caribbean and African communities.
When it comes to the scale of the organization, the Black CAP operates more than $1 million
budget per year. What’s more, Black CAP now has a paid staff of 19 people with 10 full time
employees and 9 part time employees, who help to organize about 75 volunteers. However, it is
not easy for such a non-profits coalition to hold the whole recruitment process, with many
challenges hinder. Executive Director Shannon Ryan, having been in the organization since 2006,
explained how they face the obstacles.
The Challenge in lacking of staff
With the raising awareness of preventing AIDS’s spreading, a number of new funding programs
sprang up to stress the importance of it. However, Black CAP was embarrassed and unable to
make full use of these opportunities due to the lack of staff. Without the concepts of human
resources, Ryan worked hard just to hire the staff who can satisfy the funders’ requirement.
Apparently, this solution did not work out. To the opposite, it led to a boom in the number of staff
within a very short period of time. This kind of recruitment sounds flat, but lacks objectiveness. It
is clear that Ryan has to give up many things in other aspects he likes and devote almost all the
time and energy to supervision, since each new hire represents a large quantity of education,
supervision and report work.
It turned out to be correct that the Black CAP needed to establish a professional human resources
collaboration. In 2006, Black CAP participated in combined with another six AIDS organizations
in the downtown Toronto area, in order to solve their problems. Then came a HR consultant Tracy
Campbell from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, who is characterized as an “HR Help Desk
PLUS” by Ryan. Thus, Campbell can meet the seven EDs regularly, and remind them of the
collective HR concerns, like compensation, recruitment and retention.
The introduction of Campbell benefits a lot. For instance, Black CAP can come to Campbell’s
individually to consult her some as-needed basic work, or get some trainings and coaching
services. The HR collaboration gave Black CAP opportunities to acquire high-quality advices, and
also support that organizations seem unable to afford by themselves.
In a word, a professional human resources stands for a crucial point in an enterprise. Without the
help of HR, the enterprises might lose the direction and hire someone who can do little to the
enterprises.
The Challenge in Staff Configuration
Working with Campbell enabled Ryan to realize the importance or staff configuration. The
unrealistic of “with a staff of 19, I could have been spending all my time on HR” came to his
mind, and he gradually knew how to let the organization grow and thrive. By changing the staff
structure, Black CAP could be able to help the AIDS patient better, and satisfy the funder’s
requests better. As an organization, it is always a good idea to consult the conference staff about
the staff configuration.
At the beginning, Ryan knew little about the staff configuration, and all he did was to fit the
